IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 317601 accession number: 4205.3 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Wednesday 25 September 2024 updated: Thursday 28 August 2025 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: A watercolour drawing from the album 4205. The composition features a central arrangement of pink camellia flowers with layered petals, showing skillful use of white body colour to create depth and dimension. These lush camellias are surrounded by bright yellow squash blossoms with their distinctive star-shaped flowers and characteristic vine leaves. The insects include a striking black butterfly with orange-red markings in the upper left, which appears to be a Chinese windmill butterfly (Byasa plutonius), characterized by its distinctive wing pattern. A delicately rendered bee is positioned in the upper right corner of the composition.The artwork shows meticulous attention to botanical and entomological details, particularly in the rendering of the camellia's complex petal structure and the butterfly's wing patterns. The green leaves are depicted with careful attention to their natural veination and different shapes typical of both camellia and squash plants. The illustration combines scientific accuracy with artistic composition, characteristic of Chinese natural history paintings of this period. title: drawing LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/317601 TECHNIQUES ---------- watercolour and bodycolour on pith paper watercolour CATEGORIES ------ category: album DATING ------ creation date: 1800 - 1880 creation date earliest: 1800 creation date latest: 1880 culture: 19th Century CREATORS -------- maker: Canton workshop DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Height units: mm value: 190 dimension: Width units: mm value: 290